Faulconer unveils jobs plan

San Diego City Council member Kevin Faulconer answers a question during the first mayoral debate with fellow City Council member David Alvarez and former City Attorney Michael Aguirre. The debate was sponsored by the Asian Business Association of San Diego.
— Howard Lipin

San Diego City Council member Kevin Faulconer answers a question during the first mayoral debate with fellow City Council member David Alvarez and former City Attorney Michael Aguirre. The debate was sponsored by the Asian Business Association of San Diego.
— Howard Lipin

Logan Heights  Kevin Faulconer on Tuesday unveiled a five-point jobs plan calling for a long-term contract with Comic-Con, doubling regional trade and cutting red tape at City Hall to make it easier for businesses to expand and locate in San Diego.

The City Councilman and mayoral candidate also wants to hire military veterans to fill police department vacancies and find summer jobs for as many as 2,500 students.

Dubbed “IDEAS” for investment, development, education, attraction and streamlining, Faulconer vows to take 17 specific actions during his first year as mayor should he win the special election to replace Bob Filner.

Those promises include getting the Comic-Con contract signed, creating an economic and growth services division at City Hall, expediting the permit process and making permanent the city's current policy of deferring fees until a building project is complete.

Faulconer also said he will oppose any effort to raise the “linkage fee,” a tax charged to commercial projects to subsidize affordable housing.

“San Diego needs a mayor who can bring back certainty for businesses ready to create jobs, so San Diegans can get back to work,” he said.

Faulconer said he would work to increase federal grant funding to the high-tech sector by 50 percent, and launch a study in the Barrio Logan community to protect waterfront jobs.

His plan also would create at least four new high-tech incubators, add grant writers to the city payroll to scour the federal government for more funding and prioritize low-income neighborhoods to stimulate new investment by updating community plans and land-use regulations.

Turning to the border with Mexico, Faulconer, the Republican Party's endorsed candidate, calls working with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation to double trade with Mexico and the Pacific Rim within five years and reduce border wait times.

He also wants to revive marketing San Diego as a film making destination through a Film and Creative Industry Commission that would advertise the city worldwide and reduce regulatory hurdles for movie and entertainment projects.

Faulconer backer Jerry Sanders, CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the city’s mayor before Filner, called the plan good for business.

“When I was mayor, Kevin was a lead partner in expanding the convention center, fostering economic activity at the port and cutting unnecessary red tape,” he said in a prepared statement. “I am confident Kevin will create a business environment where small businesses and good-paying jobs can thrive."

Faulconer’s plan comes a little more than two weeks after rival candidate Nathan Fletcher released a job plan that he said would help create 130,000 new jobs by 2020. Democrat Fletcher’s plan also uses a multi-pronged approach focused on the innovation economy, manufacturing and investing in public works projects.

San Diego State University economist Dan Seiver, who expressed skepticism about Fletcher’s plan because of the cost to fully implement it, said Faulconer’s plan doesn’t detail its impact on the city treasury.

“What is missing is any discussion of the city's present and future fiscal health,” he said. “If there are going to be tax cuts and spending increases, how will the budget be balanced?”

Seiver also questioned how to double trade within five years, but said he liked Faulconer’s plan to hire veterans for the police department and it focus on high-tech expansion.